1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method thereof using the standard information for judging approval or disapproval and conditions of transaction when carrying out transactions using an electronic purse system and more particularly to an electronic purse application system and method thereof having electronic money information as well as age information of an owner in an IC card.
2. Description of the Prior Art
At present, an alcoholic drink or cigarette vending machine uses cash for clearing. However, when a minor attempts to buy alcoholic drinks or cigarettes, the selling cannot be stopped; therefore countermeasures such as preventing of selling at night are taken. In a pay TV broadcast such as CS broadcast or CATV, the charge for a program selected by a TV viewer is withdrawn from a bank using a credit card. Also in this case, countermeasures such as inputting of a code number are taken so as to prevent a child from watching an adult program. However, in either case mentioned above, selling to a minor cannot be prevented perfectly.
On the other hand, as described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application 3-92966, a perfect cashless transaction by an electronic purse system using an IC card has been examined. This is a system that if amount information which is optionally designated is written into a memory in an IC card and necessary amount information is sent from the IC card for clearing, the transaction can be completed without using cash.
As digital broadcasting and Internet advance these days, program limiting to minors is an important problem. Also with respect to selling of alcoholic drinks and cigarettes, selling by vending machines at night is stopped at present. However, there is a problem imposed that selling to minors cannot be prevented perfectly. Furthermore, it also raises a problem for an automatic payment, n such a case as the amount of charge is different between an adult and a child such as a railroad or bus fare, or a theather entrance fee.
An object of the present invention is to eliminate the difficulties of the prior arts mentioned above and to provide an electronic purse application system and method thereof for allowing appropriate use of electronic money automatically taking care of restrictions and conditions due to a standard information such as age, distinction of sex, etc., of a user and guarantee and discrimination of his status when electronic money is to be used.
By doing this, it is attempted to automatically prevent selling to a minor and a disqualified transaction by discriminating the age information and others at the time of clearing by electronic money.
To accomplish the above object, the present invention is an electronic purse system and a method thereof having an IC card for storing electronic money information and information for giving transaction conditions using electronic money, wherein the information for giving transaction conditions is read from the IC card by an IC card read/write means, and the approval or disapproval of transaction inputted by an input means for inputting transaction information using electronic money is decided on the basis of the aforementioned read information for giving transaction conditions and the prestored standard information. When the decision is approval, the electronic money information in the IC card is updated by the charge for the transaction on the basis of the information for giving transaction information.
More concretely, the present invention comprises an automatic transaction terminal having an IC card for storing electronic money information, age information such as owner""s age or date of birth, and others, an IC card read/write means for reading and writing information of the IC card, an IC card control means for controlling mounting and ejection of the IC card, an input means for selecting a good, a sales amount information storage means for storing electronic money information equivalent to the amount of the good, a good pick up control means for controlling picking-up of the good, and a processing means for judging approval or disapproval of selling of the good.
Only when the age information of the owner of the IC card is equivalent to the age for which the desired good can be sold as a result of judgment by the processing means, the electronic money equivalent to the amount of the good is subtracted from the IC card and stored in the sales amount information storage means and the good is picked up from the automatic transaction terminal by the good pick up control means.
As mentioned above, according to the present invention, by storing electronic money information as well as age information of the owner of an IC card and others in the IC card, it is possible to discriminate this age information at the time of transaction and clear the charge. Therefore, selling of alcoholic drinks or cigarettes to a minor can be prevented. In a pay TV broadcast, when the balance of an IC card of a viewer is shorted or the age of an owner of an IC card is under age limit of a program, the release of scrambling can be stopped automatically. Furthermore, this can be applied also to clearing when the amount of charge is different between an adult and a child such as a railroad or bus fare or a theater entrance fee.
The foregoing and other objects, advantages, manner of operation and novel features of the present invention will be understood from the following detailed description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.